Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!rochester!kodak!sisd!jeh From: jeh@sisd.kodak.com (Ed Hanway) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Net users are cheapskates (was: Different Background) Message-ID: <1990Oct2.161819.28380@sisd.kodak.com> Date: 2 Oct 90 16:18:19 GMT References: <14440@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> <57880@microsoft.UUCP> Sender: news@sisd.kodak.com Distribution: usa Organization: Printer Products Division Eastman Kodak Lines: 54 entropy@mole.ai.mit.edu (Nick Castellano) writes: >In article <57880@microsoft.UUCP>, darekm@microsoft.UUCP writes: >>In some brainless article stevendd@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Doug) writes: >>> >>>Does anyone know of a PD or shareware program to ... >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >> >>A day doesn't go by that someone doesn't ask a question similar to this. >>e.g. "does anyone know of a PD desktop publishing program as good as Calamus?" >>Oh, of course, shareware programs are also ok, since you don't really have >>to pay for them when you get them. If you can pirate something, that's ok too. > >Did he say anything about pirating? Stop hallucinating, please. > >>I realize that this is a free network, but why must we limit ourselves to >>talking about PD or shareware software? Why don't we broaden our horizons > >Because he wanted a free program, not one he'd have to pay for. I see ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >plenty of discussion of commercial software here. Shareware is not free. If you use a shareware program, you are supposed to pay for it, otherwise you are stealing from the author just as much as if the program was commercial. I don't mean to single out the individual request that started this thread, but these common "PD or shareware" requests indicate a basic misunderstanding of the concept of shareware, and it's not really the fault of the person making the request. Reinforcing the idea that "shareware is free" are: "Public Domain software houses" that sell disks of PD and shareware, but neglect to distinguish one from the other. It's not until you read the documentation on the disk that you find that the author expects $25 on top of the $5 that you paid to someone else for the disk. Some "shareware" authors themselves who slap a pricetag on an unsupported hack that isn't worth anything to anybody. My point is that "PD or shareware" requests make little sense.(1) They should be either "PD or freeware" if you don't want something badly enough to pay for it, or "PD, freeware, shareware, or low cost software" if you are willing to pay. (1) Actually, there is some sense to a request like "Can someone _send me_ a PD, freeware or shareware program to ..." if you can't or don't want to spend the time and effort going to a dealer and evaluating commercial programs. Since this has nothing specifically to do with the atari st, I would prefer to follow up in email. Ed Hanway uunet!sisd!jeh My opinions, not my employer's.